RAD LIFE

Since being ‘Unearthed’ by Triple J in 2012, Tasmanian teen Asta has well and truly shaken off the dirt, and is shining brighter than ever as she releases punchy track after track. THIS IS RADELAIDE had the chance to chat with the songstress as she prepares to head on down to Rads, performing in The Cloisters at the Uni of Adelaide on Friday the 31st of this month, the first stop of her ear-tickling national tour.

Despite the daunting nature of embarking on a solo tour, the singer is fizzing with excitement. “I’m so looking forward to being able to just do whatever I want on stage. I absolutely love performing live… It’s the best thing. It’s just like a box where you can do whatever you want in front of a crowd of people who are hopefully really into what you’re doing. I’d honestly do it every day if I could" she said.

The tour comes in the wake of the singer’s hit release Dynamite featuring Allday which exploded (lel) into the top 10 of the ARIA Australian Artists singles chart, leaving us all in raptures of delight. It would seem that our crush on the singer is reciprocated, thank the lord. “From what I remember, Adelaide people just go crazy at live shows, so I’m really looking forward to starting out there.” Oh stop it Asta, you saucy flirt…

On what we can expect, “I’ll be testing out a few new songs to see how they go down, and I’ve been thinking of putting a cover song into the show, though I haven’t decided on which one yet… I actually watched a documentary about The Beach Boys the other night, it’s called Love and Mercy and it was amazing, so I’ve been thinking I’d love to possibly cover one of their songs in the future.”

The artist recently demolished Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody in her Like A Version team up with Allday, an unreal serenade that left us weak in the knees and tight in the trousers. As such, the possibility of more covers to come can only be good news, and the prospect of new original tracks is more exciting still, as the youngster has yet to release a single that doesn’t make you want to wiggle. Her unique and hugely versatile sound is near impossible to define genre-wise, as it fuses elements of everything from electro pop, to indie rock, and even some interesting RnB undertones.

When asked how she would classify it herself the singer was hesitant on identifying with any RnB sounds, suggesting that perhaps such comparisons are born of the Allday collab more than anything else. “I don’t even know what’s been happening, it’s been crazy! People have been calling me an RnB artist, which I’m not too sure about, I’m not quite sure I do [the genre] justice. I think I’m definitely more of a pop-soul artist if I had to define it.”

She’s certainly speaking straight to our souls with her Dynamitevideo clip, where the singer resembles the majestic lovechild of Sinead O’Connor and David Bowie (tough to envision, but check out the clip and I think you’ll definitely see what I mean). On filming the simple but seriously potent vid, “It was fun, all the money went into the lighting which turned out pretty cool… I kind of wish I could just carry around that lighting with me all day long.” Don’t we all, especially given the song itself is more or less the perfect soundtrack to our lives. “It was really quick [to film], but I love the simplicity of it.”

Image via astaworld

Asta’s video performance and vocals are high-energy and expressive, with Allday’s laconic style providing a perfect counterpoint. “We’d written Dynamite and were ready to release it, then one day we were just like, who’s this Allday guy! I’d heard him on the radio and I was just like, man I love his tone and texture, maybe we could just send him the song to see if he wants to put some rap on in, and he loved it.”

When asked about her influences, the singer unsurprisingly loves a lot of what we love. “I love Movement, I’ve really been digging on them lately. I even got to sell their merch recently at a show in Sydney and they gave me a free tee, which is actually my favourite shirt… I’ve also been loving Safia at the moment, I’d really love to meet them, or even collaborate with them one day.”

That is one Aussie collab we'll definitely be demanding on our Christmas list. In the meantime, Christmas has already come early in the form of this Friday’s show - we can't wait to see you Asta!

Catch Asta Friday 31 July – At The Cloisters, University Of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA . All Ages,Tickets available from: www.oztix.com.au